The Crown Prosecution Service has handed out £1.1m in pay-offs to two former employees, it was reported today. 

Ex-chief operating officer Mike Kennedy received four months of his annual salary 18 months before he was eligible to retire, while another unnamed senior employee received £623,555 in 2009, according to investigative news website Exaro.

A CPS spokesperson said: ’The payments made to Mike Kennedy upon his early release from the CPS are publicly available on the CPS website in our annual report of 2012/13. They were entirely in accordance with all appropriate Cabinet Office guidance and Civil Service pension rules. 

’The voluntary early release scheme has enabled the CPS to reduce the number of senior staff/managers and headquarters employees while protecting frontline services and saving the taxpayer a significant amount of money in the long term. By March 2015, our annual salary costs will have reduced by £77.8m compared to before the start of the spending review.’

Pension payments to Kennedy were a contractual entitlement under the Civil Service pension scheme, the CPS said.

CPS offices

In August The Gazette revealed that the Ministry of Justice paid out £89m to staff who had left in 2012/13. The department also spent £96m on consultants and temporary staff over the same period.